[Ancestor] Marquis

---

---

Husband [Ancestor] Marquis

---

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

       Marriage: 

---

---

Wife

---

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

---

Children

---

1 M William Marquis ^{2 3 4}

---

            AKA: William Marques 1
           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Margaret [Unk] (      -      ) 1 2

---

---

General Notes: Husband - [Ancestor] Marquis

---

This family is of Huguenot origin. The ancestors were driven from France during the severe persecutions that followed the Protestant Reformation. The date of their flight is somewhat uncertain. One tradition has it that it was just after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1689, but that is hardly probable, as the branch of the family that came to America was thoroughly anglicized when they emigrated thirty-one years later, in 1720. It is also known that some time had been spent in Ireland before venturing to the unsettled world across the ocean. There is a persistent tradition, also, of a more or less extended residence both in England and Scotland, and of suffering persecution for their faith in both countries. It would seem from this that the date of the family's emigration from France must be put much earlier than 1689, possibly a hundred years earlier, or during the persecution that followed the Massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1582. It would also appear that the family, like most of the Huguenot exodus, failed to keep together on quitting their native France. Some, we know, went to the British Isles, others are reported in Germany, and the head of the family went to Switzerland, where his descendants occupy, to this day [1908], a large estate called Le Chatelard Montreaux, near Chillon. The family seat is a magnificent old castle on a high bluff over-looking Lake Geneva. It ought to be added that the Swiss branch of the family has been a potent factor in the life of the little Alpine Republic for more than 200 years. One of its members for a number of years was Grand Counsellor or Attorney General of the Republic. His widow and children are still [1908] living on the Montreaux estate.
According to the more probable of the traditions mentioned above, the family were Dissenters in England, as they had been Protestants in France, and when it was made uncomfortable for them there they removed to Scotland during the reign of James I., or Charles I. From there, in the course of time, they crossed to Ireland and settled in Letterkenny, County Donegal. How long they were there is not known.
The authentic history of the American branch begins with the year 1720, when William Marquis and his wife, Mary, emigrated from Letterkenny to Frederick County, Maryland, crossing the ocean in a ship called the Mayflower, named for its illustrious predecessor which brought the Pilgrims a century before. After living a few years in Maryland, they removed to Virginia and settled near the present site of Winchester, at a point called Opequon. The battle of Winchester, during the Civil War, is said to have been fought on the land taken up by them on their settlement in that state.

A curious change in the family name took place in the nineteen century. The two brothers who came from Virginia spelled their name Marques, as the southern branch do to this day; but, for some unknown reason, those who came north adopted Marquis. Which was the original form is uncertain. ⁵

1 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 1129.

2 —, Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893), Pg 182.

3 Aaron L. Hazen, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1908), Pg 452.

4 Joseph F. McFarland, 20th Century History of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1910), Pg 1277.

5 Aaron L. Hazen, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1908), Pg 451.